Students can now take mass transit to school using ScholarChip(r) contactless smart cards.

The School District of Philadelphia, ACS Transport Group and ScholarChip are working together to integrate student ID cards and student transit cards.


Philadelphia, April 26, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Philadelphia School district could end up being one of the largest beneficiaries of the new system, which will use existing ScholarChip automated student attendance and identification technology to help the District create and manage student public transport passes. The system will use student ID cards, cell phones, bank cards or pre-paid cards, equipped with contactless technology, to enable riders to manage their transit fares more easily.
 
The new SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) program will also do away with paper student bus passes--a cumbersome manual system which is estimated to require the services of half a full-time employee for each school in the Philadelphia district.
 
Under the new system, ScholarChip will provide a real-time interface between the existing ScholarChip student identification and attendance platform and the new contactless ACS public transport readers, meaning that students can use their identification cards as bus or subway passes on the SEPTA system.
 
ScholarChip's existing Philadelphia School District system manages building attendance and security and automated classroom attendance, as well as discipline events. Adding transit will round out an already robust system. ScholarChip is a national provider of Cloud-Based K-12 and Higher Education contactless smart card technology solutions.
 
Beyond simply reducing the time and resources that Philadelphia School District employees must dedicate to the current student fare card system. ScholarChip technologies have the potential to create a safer, more efficient system for student transit - eliminating duplicate cards and enabling parents, teachers and school district staff to receive accurate information on a student's location.
 
ScholarChip's platform prevents any student from having more than one valid card at a time, making it ideal for integration into a public transport system, ScholarChip card issuance occurs in real time, and real-time communication between ScholarChip and ACS will give students immediately-usable cards for the SEPTA system. The same principle applies, when necessary, to the real-time revocation of cards or suspension of privileges on the SEPTA system.
 
ScholarChip also provides outbound voicemail, e-mail and text messaging, as well as smart phone apps, to give parents real-time access to information about students' location. Combining these technologies will allow Philadelphia students to travel throughout the city to school in a secure and accountable fashion. The ScholarChip (NFC) smart phone apps will also be available to school district staff and security personnel to assist in truancy reduction.

The company:
ScholarChip is a leading provider of advanced applications for the educational community. ScholarChip has pioneered the concept of integrated School Safety & Operation System for K-12 schools. The system includes a variety of applications to manage school operations and safety while reducing administrative overhead.  ScholarChip's programs also extend beyond K-12 schools. In the College and University market ScholarChip provides advanced financial solutions including Tuition Plans, Loan Servicing, Payment Gateway and notification. 

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